15 replies to this topic

[Nerd-Man]

Having nowhere else to tell about my theory on how dreams work, I've decided to tell people about it here. I know it flatly contradicts all the research and beliefs of virtually everybody, but it's my opinion. And here it is:

My theory of dreams is that every time we dream, we add our memories and thoughts to a special dimension constructed entirely of thoughts. When people dream, after the thought-sending, they travel to the dream world and do things that they would naturally (or unnaturally, sometimes). Since so many people are dreaming and thinking, the dream world is very strange and different every time we visit it. Given tons of processing power and some sort of wireless internet chip in people's minds, you could map out the dream world and examine it.

I thought this theory up mostly on the basis that some people have the exact same dreams who have no relation to one another, and how many dreams seem to have similar elements - e.g. light switches rarely work. My theory for that is that because of the constant changing of the dream world, the wires needed keep fracturing. They are needed only because light switches in the real world need them, so if you truly believed that light doesn't need electricity and slept a lot, you might make a big enough difference in the dream world to make many of the switches work!

Lucid dreams, I theorize, are when you are aware you are dreaming and can change the environment. I theorize that when you notice you are in the dream world, not the waking one, you can actively think the way you would in the waking world and thus update the dream world with new thoughts.

My theory on nightmares is simple. I think they are merely when thoughts from the bad part of your mind go into the dream world and affect you. Thoughts don't necessarily dissiapate when you wake, which is why the dream world is such a messy and disorganized place. The bad thoughts from your mind might not actually disturb others if they wander near.

Another reason I believe my whole theory of the dream world is that you can remember past elements from dreams in the same way you remember things in the waking world.

I theorize that people forget about dreams so quickly is that that's how the universe works. People aren't good at interfacing and traveling into seperate worlds, and the dream world is structured in a way that causes humans to struggle to recall dreams, that is, experiences in the dream world.

Well, that's my belief. What about the rest of y'alls?

[Revfan9]

So, you're suggesting a sortof... Intergalactic Conciousness?

[Nerd-Man]

...

I'm not entirely sure. After reading that article several times, I still couldn't comprehend it because I'm too stupid. I think, however, that that is what I'm suggesting.

[Alestance]

Your opinion sounds real sweet, but I doubt it's plausibility.

Although ancient cultured believed that through sleep you can visit other worlds, but I'm not too sure which one(s).

Edited by Master_of_Power, 10 June 2007 - 03:44 PM.

[Revfan9]

Your theory sounds eerily similar to another theory I read of, but unfortunately, I cannot find the article. I'll just explain it here:

According to this theory, every human mind is connected to a massive "Overmind", which exists outside of physical space-time. It's similar to a sea urchin wrapped in a nylon thread. The spikes look like individual bodies, but when the thread is removed, you can see that they are all connected. Dreams are caused by the subconcious dipping into the "Pool" of the Overmind.

Of course, there's much more to it than that, but you get the idea.

Edited by Revfan9, 10 June 2007 - 04:06 PM.

[Antilochos]

Given tons of processing power and some sort of wireless internet chip in people's minds, you could map out the dream world and examine it.

I thought this theory up mostly on the basis that some people have the exact same dreams who have no relation to one another, and how many dreams seem to have similar elements - e.g. light switches rarely work. My theory for that is that because of the constant changing of the dream world, the wires needed keep fracturing. They are needed only because light switches in the real world need them, so if you truly believed that light doesn't need electricity and slept a lot, you might make a big enough difference in the dream world to make many of the switches work!

I gotta admit, I like that bit about the 'some sort of wireless internet chip'. So uhh..

If this is a 'special dimension made up entirely of thoughts' why does it need electrical wiring? And what's the go with lightbulbs not working? I honestly can't remember ever having a dream where I even tried a lightswitch, let alone finding one and noting that it didn't work. Are you sure that's a common theme in dreams or is that maybe just you?

And if so many people are dreaming and thinking, from all walks of life and situations and whatnot, and this is affecting the dream world; Why are our dreams so often of the familiar or concerning immeadiately recent events? Why do we never get elements of dreams from entirely alien cultures to our own (say from the poorest regions of Africa, or from China?), or in languages we don't understand? Or dreams of the experiences or from the minds of the criminally insane, the demented, the sexually perverted, etc? Why are they so often about people we know?

[Mitchfork]

But if we all got wireless internet chips, then we'd get popups... directly to our brains. Like Head-On, only worse.

[Krion]

Ok, first of all I think this does seem to make sense. Even though it's not really scientifically plausible...

The only problem is that it sounds like a plot from a random fantasy video ...

Edited by Krion, 11 June 2007 - 02:17 PM.

[Revfan9]

Problem with this theory is the same problem with Intellegient Design, it cannot be tested by experiment.

So lol.

[RyanBlazeheart]

Wow! That's really interesting.

[Nerd-Man]

I was sort of tired when I wrote this, so it doesn't entirely explain some of the bits I was thinking. The wireless internet chip is pretty stupid, even for me. I meant some sort of... um.. I forget. But it would link up to other chips of the same type and send all the data about what people are dreaming to a single supercomputer which would process the data of whatever the chip observed, putting all of it together into a cohesive map of what the dream world looks like. Sort of like a server for an MMOG, only requiring masses of money, people, and huge amounts of processing power.

@Antilochos - due to the fact that the dream world is made up of human thoughts, those that have lamps and such would have the "electricty needs wires to run through" thought engrained in their brains. And so that's how the dream world works for the most part, because it's made up of our thoughts. I read somewhere on Wikipedia that people try to get themselves to do things in dreams that would make them aware they were dreaming so they can lucid dream, such as doing things that were common to them. Such as flicking on and off light switches. In my dreams, and on whoever wrote that on Wikipedia, light switches work very rarely (Well, to be fair, I've tried to flick a light switch on around 1 time). I just made up a fact to explain that since the wires we think we need keep breaking because of the ever-changing element of the dream world. I have quoted the Wikipedia article here:

Reality testing
Reality testing (also referred to as reality checking) is a common method used by people to determine whether or not they are dreaming. It involves performing an action with results that will be different if the tester is dreaming. By practicing these tests during waking life, one may eventually decide to perform one while dreaming, which will usually fail, hopefully letting the dreamer realize that he/she is dreaming. Common reality tests include:

Reading some text, looking away from the text, and reading it again - the text will probably have changed.
Looking at one's watch (remembering the time), looking away, and looking back. As with the text, the time will probably have changed at the second glance.
Flipping a light switch. Light switches rarely work properly in dreams.
Looking into a mirror; in dreams, reflections from a mirror often appear to be blurred, distorted or incorrect.
Plugging one's nose shut, and attempting to breathe through it. It is usually possible to breathe while doing this because the tester is not actually plugging her nose in real life.
Looking at one's hands one or more times. Hands may look distorted, or grow additional fingers in a dream.
Gripping and stretching a finger. In a dream, body image can become distorted, and pulling a finger can elongate it.
Jumping into the air. Gravity is often distorted in a dream state and floating, flying or "moon jumping" will occur.

Incidentally, the reason (in my theory) that we usually see only things relating to our memories and thoughts are because everytime we access this dream world, our thoughts are added to it. Thus changing it. And since we just came in the dream world remains that way for a bit. The reason we don't get too many dreams using other's thoughts is because we never experience enough of the dream world to notice it. The dream world is as big as it needs to be to encompass one's thoughts.

@Ebola Zair - Head-On. Apply directly to forehead.
@Most everybody else - I know, it's impossible to be proven and it sounds cliched and like nothing new. It can't be disproven because nothing can be logically disproven, which is good. As for the cliched bit... uh, yeah. It is, I agree.
@Everybody who replied - Thanks for the comments and arguments.

Edited by Nerd-Man, 11 June 2007 - 06:21 PM.

[MarioBrosCom]

If that were true, you could theoretically meet a dream version of yourself from someone else's dream in a particularly strange dream... But you never see any of that happening, do you? Really, you know it can't be possible, so there's no point in trying to propose a theory on it.

[Krion]

Oh come on, don't be so uptight. I've had dreams that I'm not even in!

[Nerd-Man]

@MarioBrosCom - As I said before, it is logically impossible to prove anything as wrong and untrue, or right and true. Thus, even if I tried or you tried, I or you or anybody could not prove that my theory is impossible. It's just my theory. My opinion. I'm not "proposing" anything.

For the "you never see that happening" part, can you elaborate? If you mean you never see yourself appearing in your dreams from someone else's thoughts, you must somehow find out every dream anyone has ever had to make sure this isn't just you. It would be... very hard, almost impossible to find out if somebody has had a dream in which they meet a dream version of themselves, much more hard - no, impossible - to find out if that comes from their thoughts or somebody who knows them.

@Krion - Thank you.

[Beefster]

Sounds kinda like the concept of Foo from Leven Thumps books. You have a thought that passes into Foo and a nit manipulates the dream and sends it back to you.